Defiant Prisoners: Strength of A Demon
by DancingDragonBlaze
Summary: Love of Ancient Kings, Part Three: The village becomes under threat after Naruto's refusal, and said demon is dragged into the center of a hateful crowd intent on seeing him suffer. But will Naruto be able to keep silent in the face of such cruelty?


**So I've finally uploaded another part! OMG THAT'S INTENSE. 3**

**Well, keeping things short, I'm on a road trip, and I rarely get internet, so that gives me time to update everything! :D**

**I hope you like this, you guys!**

**One Shot**

**Love of Ancient Kings**

**Part Three**

**Defiant Prisoners: Strength of A Demon**

"Are you okay Naruto? You seem out of it."

He looked up from his bowl.

"Oh, yeah Iruka, I'm fine," he replied, smiling. "Just tired, is all."

"Oh really?" Iruka asked. "That's hard to believe. Did you not sleep well last night?"

"No, not really…" Naruto admitted. That was the truth. He hadn't been able to do anything except cry and stare at the wall the night before, the demon's final words swimming through his head.

He had barely managed to eat breakfast, leaping eagerly at every little noise outside on the landing or the window – as if expecting something.

But the demon never appeared, and it left Naruto disappointed time and time again.

Now he and Iruka were at a Ramen stand, and Naruto had barely managed to eat anything. He knew Iruka would immediately know that something was wrong.

Iruka gazed at him worriedly.

"Are you sure you're all right?" He asked. "Your eyes are all red – and you're looking very pale. Are you getting sick?"

Naruto opened his mouth to answer but then a vicious tremor rocked the earth, throwing both men out of their seats and onto the ground.

Wincing, the blonde stood, and helped the priest up.

"What on earth is going on?" He asked as the ground continued to shake. Iruka pulled out his bible, flipped it open.

The cross inside was glowing.

"Demons," he stated simply, eyes narrowing as he straightened. The cross around his neck had begun to shimmer faintly as well. "They're nearing the village."

Naruto's eyes widened.

"Oh God-!"

_The demon!_

Iruka dashed out of the stand, dragging Naruto with him.

"Naruto, get somewhere safe!" He told the blonde as an alarm went through the village. "The priests are being called – I need to go!"

Turning, he sprinted away, disappearing into the panicking crowd.

"Iruka!" Naruto called, but to no avail. "Iruka!"

His eyes moved, sweeping back and forth.

_Gotta find him!_

Then he remembered the demon's words.

"_In times of crisis…"_

"The Hokage…" he breathed, eyes widening.

Turning, he raced after Iruka.

-----

There was a deep, pained grunt as the demon was forced to his knees, swathed in chains engraved with defensive, controlling runes.

The Hokage stood before him, his eyes flashing.

"Why are these demons here, _beast_?" He snarled. The demon swallowed.

"I… I don't know," he replied, able to hear their cries of play and feel their sense of safety. They could feel his power behind the village walls, and they recognized him for what he really was, and thought that no harm would come to them as long as he was nearby.

Oh, how wrong they were.

"They're just passing through," the demon told the Hokage, kneeling before him as the priests gathered in a half-circle behind the human on the ancient altar, all quite ignoring the demon in the center. "They mean no harm – please let them pass in peace."

"They are near the borders of our village!" The Hokage exclaimed, raising his staff and slamming it into the demon's shoulder, making the other grunt. "With one leap and bound, they could ascend our walls and destroy us all! Oh heathen of Hell, why should we believe you?!"

The demon swallowed, feeling the rune of trust – one that had been carved into his throat over nine hundred years ago – burn against his skin, making a blue glow seep from behind his shirt.

Thus, he answered truthfully, with a dry, grim thought.

"Well…" he breathed softly. "I guess… you shouldn't."

The Hokage hit him again – on the same spot. The demon winced, tensing his jaw.

"Do NOT be defiant with me, prisoner!" He snapped. "What is their mission here?!"

The demon swallowed thickly.

"There is no mission!" He exclaimed, straining against the shackles that pinned his arms to his back. His hair had been entwined with the chains – to break them would mean tearing out his own beautiful locks. "There is none! They mean no harm! Let them pass!"

The human raised his staff and sent it crashing against the demon's face, making his head jerk to the side, but the grip two other humans had on his chains kept him up on his knees.

Closing his eyes, he fought against a whimper as he felt the blood seep from his lips.

In response, the demon tribe's motions outside of the village began to intensify, smelling the blood and feeling the pain the other experienced. Looking up, one could see a plume of dust rising from the nearby trees.

The Hokage scowled.

"They've begun to move faster," he informed the demon at his feet, who gazed down at the ground. Where his blood landed, the stone grew grass, and a single yellow flower shyly bloomed. "Well?! Tell me what they're doing!"

"It's because of me, you idiot!" The demon roared up at him, immediately regretting raising his voice as a powerful electric shock coursed through his system, a rune dug deep into the back of his hand – for 'obedience' – activating, this time glowing gold instead of blue. Whining softly, he bowed his head again, and the burn stopped. "It's because… they can tell… what you're doing to me…"

The staff cracked down on the back of his neck, sending his head closer to the ground in a shameful bow. His forehead nearly touched the stone, but he managed to stop himself just in time.

"Please!" The Hokage spat, crushing the yellow flower underfoot. "Heathens like you know not compassion or justice! But…"

He took the butt of the staff, placed it beneath the demon's chin, and pulled it upwards, forcing the demon to look up at him, blood still dripping down from his mouth.

"They DO feel fear. Tell me, are they going to attack?"

The demon gazed up at him in silence, listening to the roars of rage and cries of revenge that floated up to his mind's ears.

But, alas, he was caged in this human body. He couldn't tell them to run.

"Heh…" he smirked, looking away. "They might've not been going to before…" Lifting his eyes, he grinned at the Hokage. "But they sure as hell are now."

The Hokage sneered at him, sending his staff straight into the demon's chest before slamming him across the face with it again. This time, the humans allowed him to limply crash against the stone altar, the chains stopping any movement to pick his self up completely as he simply lay there, unmoving.

Naruto had arrived near the middle of the spectacle, and rage slowly rose in his chest at the treatment.

The fact that the crowd was cheering every time he was hit didn't make it any better.

"No…" he breathed, his fists clenched, shaking, at his side. "No – no way! This can't be happening! It's not right!"

Up there, with the other priests, he could see Iruka, staring at the events emotionlessly, like a statue. Looking around, Naruto could see the other priests had similar looks upon their faces – could they not see another feeling, breathing being was suffering?!

"This isn't right…" he breathed softly as a priest stepped forward from behind the Hokage, clothed in white garments and accessorized in all sorts of crosses and instruments to ward off evil.

As if those pretty white clothes would turn black simply by being near the demon.

The priest, reaching down, took the demon by the collar and lifted him up into the air, making the demon's head tilt towards the sky.

Then he threw the demon at the Hokage's feet again – as if in disgust, as if discarding him – and stepped back into the half-circle. All of the priests had their bibles out now, open to the same page.

The same two humans who had captured him pulled him back up onto his knees again, forcing his head down as he faced the Hokage.

Said Hokage scowled down at him, as if he were dealing with an insect, a rat.

"They are going to attack the village," he proclaimed as the demon was turned to face the crowd, sections from his chains taken away to lock into metal circles rising out of the ground, effectively pinning him on his knees at the center of the alter.

The demon's eyes were half-closed, dull, unseeing, unfeeling, as blood continued to drip from his lips. Naruto's eyes widened when he saw, as a single drop hit the stone, a dainty, blue flower bloomed from nothing, spawned from what seemed only the demon's blood.

"Oh my God…" he breathed.

"Let us begin!" The Hokage cried as the crowd began to chant, the priests moving to either side of the demon, their crosses in hand and that same hand rose to their lips as they prayed softly.

The demon's eyes narrowed, then closed.

He whimpered softly.

"_I'm so sorry…"_

Naruto could hear the other's voice – hear the other's voice though it seemed like no one else could – and he saw tears drip from the creature's eyes to fall to the stone.

Where the tears fell, the stone turned black, and the skies began to darken.

The Hokage stood behind the demon, and raised his staff – revealing the cruel, sharp end of it – aiming it directly at the middle of the demon's back.

"SACRIFICE YOUR POWER, DEMON!" He roared as the demon let out a small cry, his back glowing a vicious red as the most important rune carved into his body activated.

**SACRIFICE**

The demon's tears intensified as his body began to glow a soft baby blue, the salt water dripping down his nose and eyes to stain the stone beneath him as he refused to raise his head, simply waiting for it to end.

Naruto couldn't take it – he could feel the tears streaking his own face – he leaped forward.

"_**STOP!" **_

The chanting – from both the crowd and the priests – stopped, and everyone looked at him as he pushed to the front.

The demon, stilled, and raised his eyes, staring at the blonde in shock.

"Naruto…" he breathed softly, his eyes wide.

Naruto, before anyone could say anything, continued.

"Stop it!" He exclaimed, moving forward. "Stop hurting him, stop treating him like that! How can you possibly treat your own savior like that?! When he's spent all these years protecting you?! You ungrateful people!"

Iruka swallowed, took a step forward.

"Naruto-!"

"Hokage, we have to hurry!" The high priest in white robes informed the man. "If we don't hurry, the heathen's power will vanish, and we'll be defenseless against the demons!"

"Y-yes!" The Hokage replied as the demon said nothing, only staring at Naruto in awe, his eyes wide. "We must!"

Naruto, however, hadn't finished his rant yet.

"I can't believe you guys! He saves this village, time and time again, and how do you treat him?! Like he's nothing! Like an abandoned, dirty animal! You all should be ashamed of yourselves! He's done more for this village than all of you put together! And what do you do? You shun him, you hurt him, you treat him like THAT!" He motioned widely to the chains. "How DARE you?!" Angrily, he stamped his foot. "How _DARE _you?!"

Sense seemed to strike the demon with these words, and he shook his head.

"You idiot, shut up!" He cried raggedly. "Shut up and run – they'll kill you, you idiot blonde!" More tears sprung up as the demon gazed at him, his eyes narrowed and eyelids quivering. "THEY'LL KILL YOU!"

The priests glanced at the men bordering the altar – the ones in charge of keeping the surveyors off the holy stone – and they nodded, beginning to move.

"RUN, YOU FOOL!" The demon roared as Naruto glanced frantically around, seeming to realize what he had done. _"_YOU'VE PROCLAIMED YOUR DISLOYALTY – _RUN IF YOU DON'T WANT TO DIE!" _

"But…" Naruto stammered, still gazing at him. "But…"

"GO!" The demon bellowed. "DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME – JUST GO! _PLEASE!_" The demon choked on his own tears, swallowing thickly. "PLEASE JUST GO!"

"_I don't want you to die!"_

Naruto's eyes widened.

Then he turned and fled.

**End Part Three – Defiant Prisoners: Strength of A Demon**

**I liked this part, personally. :3**

**I hope you all did too!**

**Review? **

**Ja ne!**

**DDB**


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